Hildebrandt blades losing quality?

[dragon1]

I have noticed while shopping online that Yakima has bought out Hildebrandt? I have also read some posts that the newer Hildebrandt blades are not the same quality as the original/pre-Yakima buyout ones?

Can anyone confirm this, and do you have a rec for a supplier/brand that has high quality blades?

Thanks in advance.

[smalljaw]

If you got the new blades you probably wouldn't notice a difference in them unless you have a few older blades in your possession. If you compare the recent ones like in the last year or so versus some from 6 or 7 years ago you'll see the more recent ones don't seem to be as polished and the reason I say that is you can take a dremel with a polishing tool and a little compound and hit the blade for a few seconds and it is as good, so that is the only thing I noticed. I only have a few blades laying around from Hildebrandt as a person that wanted a spinnerbait had to have those blades so I got some and that was a long time ago. I don't use them as other companies now have premium finishes that look real good in nickel, silver, gold, brass, and copper, I use Worth swivels and blades and I will on occassion use Lakeland blades as the sizes are different. Remember if you use 2 different manufacturers for blades you need to check the size as most of them are different from one another, for Example Worth doesn't make a size 4.5 but Lakeland has a 4.5 that is a shade smaller than the Worth #5 but the Hagens 4.5 is the same size as the Worth #5 so double check when using others. Like I said though, Worth and Lakeland both offer premium finished blades that rival Hildebrandt and if you really want to go the extra mile and depending on how bad you want to save money, a dremel with a polishing head and some polishing compound can make just about any quality blade into a premium finish as that is the only difference as Hildebrandt blades are 24k gold plated so another gold plated blade can look just like it with a slight polishing.

[dragon1]

Are Worth blades full brass like the Hildes, or are they just thin/cheap, gold/silver/brass coated blades, like most of the mass blades on the market?

[smalljaw]

Worth blades are made of marine grade brass and then plated. They do sell steel blades but only in raw state so you can paint or plate yourself on the cheap. I think all the manufacturers sell both inexxpensive type blades and premium blades and the Worth premium blades are some of the best that I've used.

[dragon1]

Kool! What source do you have for Worth?

[smalljaw]

Kool! What source do you have for Worth?

Most of the time I get large quantities so I deal with them direct, if you don't have a tax I.D. # you will have to pay 10% excise tax. But if you are looking at 100 or less then you can go to Barlows or LPO, they don't list the blades under a brand name but their premium blades are made by Worth. Janns NetCraft uses mre Lakeland blades but they are also marine grade brass, as long as you stick to the premium blades you can't go wrong.

[dragon1]

Thank you.